Hello!
I am new here (although I have found reading this forum to be very helpful in the past!).
We took our 3 year old female bunny Lady to the vet today for her annual health check and vaccination. The vet did all the usual checks (eyes, ears, teeth, listened to her heart, belly, lungs etc) and said she seemed very healthy. She gave her the vaccination without any trouble. However, when she put her on the scale she said she had lost almost half a kilo. The last time she was weighed was a year ago.
I am really annoyed at myself for not weighing her myself and keeping track of it. I’m not sure whether the weight loss has been occurring over the year or whether it has been a more recent and sudden thing. She doesn’t look or feel any different to me – for example I can’t feel her ribs or spine protruding anymore than normal. She is acting completely normal!
A bit about Lady:
Lady has always been a bit of a strange bunny. We have 3 other fur babies and Lady is definitely different. She is very quiet and timid. She is quite happy to just sit quietly, and she has never been a huge eater. She is a small bunny (she seemed to grow a lot slower than all the other bunnies I have had). She was spayed just before she was two years old. Once she healed we paired her up with my male bunny Bear. He is a fair bit bigger than her, but he is very chilled and docile. Since moving in with him she has successfully started pooping in her litter box (yay!).
Bear has a big appetite, but I wouldn’t say he dominates her when it comes to food. When feeding time comes around they both jump on the food at the same time. I would say Bear eats for longer, whereas Lady has a bit and then moves away. This has always just seemed normal to me, because she has never eaten huge amounts.
Lady weighed 2.6 kilos a year ago, and she now weighs 2.19.
A bit about her diet:
All my bunnies have access to unlimited hay all day. In the evenings they are fed a small bowl of Pets at Home rabbit nuggets and either a small handful of curly kale (a very small handful due to calcium content) or a carrot or sometimes some spring green leaves. They get Hand fed a few treats a day (the yoghurt drop type ones) and they usually have either a seed block or stick – the ones that hang on the cage.
All of my bunnies have lost a bit of weight because they have been limited on their curly kale since I realized it contained so much calcium. But Lady has lost the most weight.
So I guess I am just looking for ideas really. Could it be that Bear is eating all the high calorie food (nuggets and fresh greens) before she has had a chance to go back for more? Am I not feeding them enough? Thinking back, it was around a year ago that she moved in with Bear, so I think it does line up with the last time she was weighed.
My vet wanted to do blood tests today, but I opted to take her home for a few weeks and give her some special attention before taking her back. My plan is to increase her nuggets slightly along with giving her more spring green leaves and carrot. Also I will ensure that Bear is separated from her during feeding time and the period after just in case. I will be taking her back to the vets in 3 weeks to have her weighed again. If she has lost anymore weight then I will go ahead with the blood tests.
Am I doing the right thing? I didn’t want to put her through the stress of blood tests without trying to change her diet first. She is so nervous at the vets!
Any input would be great! Thank you so much in advance!
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